Category: culture
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Fostering Engagement
I have been contemplating the implications found in Scott Hinrichs’ Civically Disengaged ever since he posted it. I have been concerned about the lack of civic involvement by most people for a long time because I am convinced that it is a cause for many of our social problems – especially our increasingly divisive political…
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Jeffs Guilty Verdict
After having posted my thoughts on the intent of the Warren Jeffs trial I thoughts I would follow up with my thoughts after his conviction. I am quite certain that Jeffs is guilty of any number of crimes related to polygamy and his actions within the FLDS community. If this trial really cuts down on…
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Prosecuting Religious Beliefs
On Friday I saw the news from the first day of the Warren Jeffs trial. Connected to the particular story that I read was audio of Jeffs teaching youth classes in his polygamous community. I was curious to hear the words and voice of a man as twisted as Jeffs has been portrayed in the…
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Half of the Story
In explaining why Utah politics has become totally dominated by the Republicans the Deseret Spectacle only covered one half of the story. He covers the back room machinery of the Religious Right. It would be foolish to argue that this didn’t happen, or even that it was unrelated to our current unfortunate predicament. There is…
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A New Generation?
I had not planned to write anything particularly focused on the anniversary of 9/11. Certainly I am not surprised by the number of people who are writing about that. When I read The September 11 Generation Doesn’t Forget it got me wondering how much of the attitudes in that article were real and how much…
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Quality Argument
Here is why I love to read The Utah Hornet’s Nest – he writes about “Why I Oppose Vouchers” rather than resorting to writing about “Why voucher supporters are trying to sacrifice your children for money.” We can always use more solid examples of “what I believe and why” on both sides of any argument…
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Good Question
I saw a video clip (I believe this was from an “Ask Mitt anything” session) in which someone asked Mitt Romney how he would go about changing the culture of Washington D.C. I thought the answer was good and the question is more important than we might guessed based on the amount of coverage it…
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Ahead of the Curve
Yeasterday I wrote about my apprehension with Mitt Romney’s approach to health care reform in Massachusetts and the social direction of this country that our current health care reform discussion implies. Today I was surprised to find articles on both topics. Lessons from Massachusetts highlights the kinds of reasons to be uneasy with Mitt’s Massachusetts…
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Growing Discomfort
I said before that I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with my favorite major candidates over one issue. That issue is the issue of health care reform. Obama seems firmly in the camp of having the federal government provide health insurance for many or all Americans. I think this is a very bad idea. It looks…
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Glancing at Immigration
I picked up my car from the shop and happened to catch part of RadioWest. Doug was talking to a writer about immigration and the contradictions in our human nature, wanting to help people in need and trying to secure our borders. I didn’t catch the whole show so I don’t know if that perspective…